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Thursday, January 2, 2014

Foul play is not suspected in the death of a woman whose body was found on New Year's Day near a snowmobile trail on the Tobique First Nation.

The RCMP say it appears 29-year-old Jamie Wolfe was out drinking with friends the night before and after being dropped off at her home on Main Street in the early morning hours, she left on foot walking along the trail not dressed for the cold weather.

Police believe Wolfe succumbed to hypothermia but an autopsy will be conducted to confirm the exact cause of her death.

You may be planning to lose weight or even quit smoking in 2014, but what about locking your car every time you leave it? That's one new years resolution the Rothesay Regional Police Chief would be glad to see you make.

Stephen McIntyre tells CHSJ News petty property crime and theft continues to plague the valley. He says people continue to keep things like purses, laptops, GPS devices and other valuable items in their vehicles. He says this year he wants to see people taking steps to help the police and themselves by removing anything of value in their vehicle, and making sure the doors are locked.McIntyre says the department hopes they will see a reduction in those types of crimes this year.

With lots of downed trees and wires continuing to cause problems for drivers and homeowners throughout the province, Grand Bay Westfield Mayor Grace Losier tells CHSJ News it's difficult to say at this point exactly what still remains to be done in her town.

She says at this point, the commissioner of works is still assessing the situation.Losier says she doesn't anticipate a lot more cutting back of trees from power-lines as a preventative measure this summer, because Grand Bay Westfield tends to stay on top of that anyway.

A massive proposed subdivision in the Latimore Lake area has hit some snags due to PlanSJ, which stipulates the area isn't ideal for rural/residential development.

Land developer Kimberly Wilson didn't mince words when asked whether there was some compromise that would satisfy her and her husband, who own Latimore Estates, saying the only thing that they would consider fair would be to continue the development as they've planned for the past ten years.But Morgan Lannigan of the Planning Advisory Committee explained her 160-lot development is simply too sprawling. Further, he says the developers did not participate in the PlanSJ consultation process that would have given them a chance to air their concerns earlier.

Other councillors raised concerns about the timeline for the development given it's just a mom and pop operation. The plan was ammended so they'll be allowed to develop about 47 lots--instead of the 160 they wanted.

Premier David Alward is being accused of not having an emergency plan in place to help those who had to go without power for several days and the only piece of advice was to "hunker down".

The accusation is being levelled by the Liberal M-L-A for Charlotte-The Isles Rick Doucet who tells CHSJ News people were left to pick up the pieces on their own.

Doucet points out back in April of 2011, the Premier promised a two year project that would develop a comprehensive emergency plan but, to date, no one has seen it. The pledge was made in the aftermath of the devastating floods that took place in Charlotte County during December of 2010.

There are no power outages to report in the Rothesay region, including the Kingston Peninsula.

There are still six outages in the St. Stephen region affecting 70 customers, 61 of them in Johnson Settlement and NB Power estimates it could be late tonight before electricity is restored.

The M-L-A for Rothesay, who's also Health Minister and Attorney-General, Ted Flemming is defending how NB Power attempted to get electricity restored after losing 25 per cent of its residential customers and having to tackle the problem without help for the first four days. Flemming says when the backup arrived, the numbers of people without power dropped dramatically.

The last of about a dozen warming centres or shelters operated by the Canadian Red Cross has now closed. If you need firewood, you can help yourself to what's left or call the Canadian Red Cross toll-free at 1-800-222-9597 if other urgent needs arise.

The traditional New Year's Day levee held at City Hall, hosted by Mayor Mel Norton and his fellow members of Common Council.

Saint John M-P Rodney Weston says his relationship with Common Council has improved since the last municipal election in May of 2012. There were major funding announcements towards the end of the year on clean drinking water, a 230 million dollar project, and construction of a new "Y" which will cost over 22 million.

Weston tells CHSJ News his relationship with the previous Council under Mayor Ivan Court was strained to put it mildly.

Weston says you can't get things done if you don't focus on your priorities and form partnerships.